


Syzygy

by TheLadyMagician



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: And their kids are evil geniuses, Cullen is suspicious, Dorian is a mama bear, Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, Matchmaking, Scheming Children, Single Dads AU, Single Parents, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-14
Updated: 2015-08-21
Packaged: 2018-03-30 11:58:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3935944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLadyMagician/pseuds/TheLadyMagician
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cullen doesn't know much about the Tevinter mage the first time he meets him in Skyhold, all he knows is that his daughter seems to worship the ground he walks on. When Meara demands that Dorian teach her a bit of magic, Cullen insists on accompanying her for the first few lessons. Just to make sure she's safe. </p><p>Dorian and Cullen might be idiots but thank the Maker their daughters aren't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Walk in the Garden

**Author's Note:**

> A prompt from a wonderful anon on tumblr who asked for a single dads AU. I hope you don't mind terribly, anon, if I make this a multi-chapter fic. Not as long as _A Delicate Arrangement_ or _Old Magic_ , but I felt I could do it more justice if I had more words. 
> 
> Also, I want everyone to know that although this fic is short, this is its FIFTH completely new draft and I have about 8,000 words that did not work for it. I say this for no other reason than I am completely bitter about it. I'm still not thrilled with it, but it's loads better than the first draft :) 
> 
> Sorry you had to wait so long, anon! I hope it's to your liking and please feel free to keep giving me prompts for this story or new stories and please come off anon so I can properly gift it to you :D

Cullen knew it was going to be a bad day the second a recruit lost the grip on his sword and the pommel hit him in the head. His first thought shouldn't have been that the recruit couldn't even hit him with the correct end of the sword, but there it was.

The first night in Skyhold was an adventure to say the least. Meara had crawled into bed with him, scared of the new place despite his reassurances that it was fine. When Meara saw the hole in his roof he then had to promise her the dragon was not going to swoop in an take her from the bed.

By then it was over and his seven year old daughter continued to ask him about everything. "No, Meara, I don't know how to get a dragon. No, you cannot get a dragon. Just because you can't have a dragon doesn't mean you can have a mabari. Fine, Meara, if you can train a dragon you can keep it. Her. Fine, the dragon's a her."

It was a long night. The lyrium withdrawal symptoms he woke up to didn't help in the slightest. His veins were alight with fire and it crawled and caught underneath his skin like shards of glass. The blow to his head hadn't exactly helped out and only sunk his mood to abysmal levels. He snapped at the recruits until they gave him a wide berth.

"Commander," Cassandra said as she strode up to him, eyes narrowed in a fierce glare and her hand on the hilt of her sword. "Leave."

"Excuse me?" Cullen asked as he returned Cassandra's glare full force.

"You've frightened a dozen recruits. By day's end we will be left with no army." If it was possible, something in Cassandra's gaze softened, though that didn't mean much with Cassandra. Her gaze went from fury to resoluteness and never much softer than that. "Take a walk in the garden and come back when you can manage civility."

Cullen ground his teeth but turned on the ball of his foot and stormed away. He knew that Cassandra was right but that didn't stop him from being furious over that fact. How was he of any use to the Inquisition making rounds in a garden?

Bystanders leapt out of his way as he opened the door to the garden, wrenching the knob a bit too viciously. It was a beautiful day in the garden and somehow that made it all the worse. Chantry members and random soldiers were potting plants and resources in the soil and rebuilding the gazebo to a decent standard. Of course it would be a lovely day beyond Cullen's lack of sleep and crawling skin.

"Dad!" Meara screamed from across the courtyard as she raced towards Cullen. The Commander bent down to scoop her up on a purely instinctual level, wincing as the sudden movement brought a new spike of pain in his temple.

Cullen had been hesitant about leaving Meara by herself in Haven for fear of threats hiding in the Inquisition's army. It was a moot point. Leliana took care of knowing the ins and outs of everyone as they came in and Cullen simply couldn't bring Meara with him to train the recruits. It was too dangerous and she was too curious for her own good. The Inquisitor or someone from the inner circle was nearly constantly with Meara, so she was as safe as she could be.

"Dad, Ser Pavus is showing us how to make ice flowers!" Meara exclaimed.

"I'm demonstrating, not teaching her magic," came a smooth voice from beyond Meara's head. Cullen shuffled the girl around on his hip to look at the Tevinter mage who walked towards him with a smile. Cullen had seen the man in passing in Haven a few times but never spoke with him. There was a small elven girl hiding behind his legs, her seafoam eyes looking at Cullen in a little curious fear. "And I believe I told you to call me Dorian, Miss Meara."

"Ser Pavus," Meara said back to the Tevinter, waving a small little hand at him. "Miss Josephine calls you Ser Pavus."

"The Lady Ambassador now calls me Dorian, as you should."

"I like calling you Ser Pavus."

"I like being called Dorian."

"Ser Pavus."

"Dorian."

Meara glared at Dorian for a few more seconds before turning to look up at her father with a wide smile. "Ser Pavus was showing us ice flowers!"

Cullen gave Dorian an apologetic look which the mage returned with a fond smile and a roll of his eyes. Meara was nearly as stubborn as Cassandra on some days and far more stubborn than her on most. "Was he?"

"Only demonstrating. Rest assured I was not teaching her magic. And Dorian Pavus, at your service."

"Commander Cullen. It's a pleasure. And it's fine if you were," Cullen said. The fact that his daughter was a mage was not a secret, but the fact she was also the Hero of Ferelden's daughter was. It was a blessing to have a daughter, but her mother Surana was not exactly an untalented mage. Meara, as a result, had a lot more power than she knew what to do with. "She needs all the help she can get."

"Dad!" Meara exclaimed and punched Cullen lightly on the cheek. The elven girl behind Dorian's legs smiled up at them at the exchange. "Be quiet," she hissed before turning back to Dorian. "I don't need a lot of help," she assured Dorian.

"Of course not, Miss Meara," Dorian said back without the patronizing tone most adults used when speaking to children. "But good mages know they can always improve. Good warriors as well," Dorian said with an inclination of his head in Cullen's direction. "But I'm afraid Seraphina and I are needed elsewhere for the moment. Our lovely Inquisitor has asked us to research something or another."

"High dragons," came a soft voice from the elven girl--Seraphina--behind Dorian's legs. Was she Dorian's daughter? Cullen knew some half elves could inherit mostly elven traits, but she was pale where Dorian was dark and light-haired to Dorian's black. She couldn't have looked further from a children of Dorian's if she tried.

"Ah! That's it!" Dorian exclaimed as he smiled at the elven girl. "I knew there was a reason I asked you to be my research partner. Again, it was a pleasure to meet you Commander. Miss Meara." Dorian bowed low to Cullen and Meara and turned on his heel, his robe flaring behind him dramatically. "Lead the way, Seraphina."

Seraphina beamed up at Dorian and turned, trying to imitate the drama of the Tevinter mage.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Meara called to the retreating mage and elf. She shimmied out of her father's arms to race after them. Not that they had gone far before Meara had shouted for them. "You'll teach me how to make flowers out of ice, right?"

Dorian looked to Cullen with a raised eyebrow as if asking if this was really his daughter. Again, all Cullen could do was grin and shrug. She took after her mother, after all. "If your father agrees, we can start tomorrow in the garden. Same time we met today."

Meara turned back to Cullen and crossed her arms with a put upon glare that couldn't quite cover her pleading gaze. Cullen sighed. While Dorian was part of the inner circle, Cullen knew nothing about him except he was a mage from a Tevinter.

"As long as I can oversee your training a bit."

"Of course, Commander," Dorian said with the knowing tone of someone who was constantly judged for being a mage from Tevinter. "Until tomorrow."

This time Meara let them walk away and through the garden before turning to her father and squealing "He called me 'Miss!' And not like Miss Cassandra calls me 'Miss.' I like him, do you like him?"

Cullen rubbed at his temples and awaited a long night of Meara talking about her new mage friend.


	2. A Rite of Passage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh dear Maker, it's been how long since I updated?!? I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened--that's a lie. I do. My summer has been busy as hell. And this chapter was not easy to come by. Then it deleted itself. Then I got it back. It's been strange.
> 
> Not beta-ed and not even really edited all that much.....

By the next morning, Cullen was ready to punch the Tevinter mage in the face and Dorian hadn't even _done_ anything. If Cullen thought Meara was ecstatic about her imaginary dragon, it was nothing like her current obsession with their resident magister. 

"Ser Pavus was casting glyphs without a staff, dad! He was just drawing them in air! And did you see the ice flowers?! Do you think I can make some as pretty as that? Ser Pavus has a weird robe. When I get older, will you make me wear a robe with all belts? Why don't you grow a moustache? I bet you could. Oh! Then you'd be matching!"

Cullen didn't even want to think of what he'd look like with a moustache as ostentatious as Dorian's. He had enough of a struggle simply remembering to shave his stubble in the morning, let alone keep facial hair that required grooming. 

"Meara, I'm sure you can make ice flowers as pretty as that, but you'll see Ser Pavus in the morning. Surely this can wait?"

"But what if I can't?!" Meara exclaimed the night before, stamping her foot on loft floor and causing the decrepit wood to creak and shake. "What if he doesn't like me? What if I can't do that magic?" 

"Meara, you'll be fine." Cullen's platitudes fell on deaf ears and Meara spent the rest of the night talking about Ser Pavus and his ice flowers. 

Which meant that Cullen wanted to punch the man, even if the man hadn't done anything to deserve his ire. His headache definitely didn't need to endure his daughter's constant questions, though he tried to answer as best he could. 

Meara followed Cullen around training the morning of their meeting with Dorian, despite Cullen's protests. She was every bit of her mother and simply did as she wished, walking one step behind Cullen as she folded her arms and tried to look as stern as her father. Cullen would be more upset but Meara's presence made the recruits far more careful in their movements, likely not wanting to risk hurting her. They wouldn't have just Cullen to fear if Meara had more than a scrape on her.

"No, no, no!" Meara exclaimed as she stomped up to a young recruit. "You've got too much weight in the front! Maker's breath, you'll just fall over if you swing your sword!" 

The recruit looked up at Cullen in alarm and all Cullen could do was cast his eyes away and cover his mouth, hoping the recruit didn't seem much of the smile that was overtaking Cullen's face. Luckily, Cassandra was more than willing to intervene. "She's right," Cassandra said as she yanked the recruit in the proper position. "Meara's been watching Templars since she opened her eyes. She tells you you're wrong, you're wrong." Cassandra nodded to Meara in admiration and walked between the ranks once more. 

Meara preened under the praise, her head held high as she resumed her place at Cullen's side, arms folded as she glared at the remaining recruits. Slowly but surely, the recruits resumed their practice, hyper-aware of their stances and weight-distribution. 

Cullen tried to compose himself as he gazed at his daughter, who was still huffing out her displeasure. "Quite done criticizing my soldiers?"

"But dad," Meara whined, elongating the word 'dad' as far as she could without needing to breathe. "They should know this stuff! It's not my fault they don't know a sword from a shield!"

 _Maker's breath,_ Cullen thought. His daughter should not be repeating his thoughts aloud in full hearing range of the very people he was thinking about. "They're learning, Meara."

"Make them learn faster so we can go see Ser Pavus."

"Is that what this is about?" Cullen asked.

Meara dropped her arms and looked away from her father. "No," she said in a quiet pouting voice that Cullen had learned to associate with lying. She might be her mother's daughter, but thank the Maker she had inherited his inability to lie. "Your soldiers just bad soldiers."

"Bad soldiers?"

"Yeah. Bad soldiers."

"What about Dorian?" Cassandra asked as she came to Cullen's side. She looked just as irritated at the soldiers as Meara did. 

"Ser Pavus is going to teach me how to make ice flowers!" Meara practically shouted as she ran to Cassandra. Cassandra shot Cullen an alarmed look, but Cullen thought it was more about Meara's enthusiasm than Dorian teaching Meara how to make ice flowers. The Commander could only shrug. Meara had found someone new to talk to about her new favorite person and she was going to take advantage as long as she could. "He showed me them yesterday and he said he'll teach me how to make them today but dad won't let me go without him and we can't go without these soldiers knowing how to hold a sword and I want to make you an ice rose, Cassandra! They're your favorite, right? Do you think I can make an ice rose?"

"I-" Cassandra started and looked helplessly at Cullen. "I- Yes. I think you can, Meara."

"You're not just saying that? Because that's what dad told me last night but I don't think he meant it."

"Meara," Cullen sighed. "Of course I meant it."

"When do you meet with Dorian?" Cassandra asked Cullen. 

"Same time I took the walk about the garden yesterday," Cullen answered. "Which means we should leave for the garden soon." 

Meara barely let her father finish her statement before she squealed and pulled at Cullen's arm in an attempt to drag him off to the garden. The Commander was, as usual, in his full plate mail so the poor girl would probably not be able to even life his arm if he wasn't holding it out for her, let alone move Cullen one inch. "Dad! We have to go! We have to be early! You said we should _always_ be early, and it's rude to be late. Come ON!" Meara switched tactics and ran behind her father, throwing all her weight against him in an attempt to push him forward. "Dad!"

"Have fun," Cassandra said with a smile as she turned to walk through the ranks, correcting postures here and there. 

Cullen finally moved his feet forward, acting like Meara was actually pushing him in the direction of the main hall. "Alright, we're moving." The child walked around Cullen once more and grabbed his hand, leading him up the stairs and to the garden. 

The Chantry sisters were there, along with a few soldiers who were tending to the garden to keep the Inquisition stocked. Dorian and the small elven girl were not, but Cullen and Meara were exceptionally early. They decided to pass the time playing chess at the nearby table, Meara paying less attention to the game and more attention to the doors surrounding the garden. 

Just when Meara looked like she was losing hope, Dorian walked through the far door with Seraphina not far behind him. Dorian took a cursory look at the chessboard and smiled at the pair. "I think you've beaten the mighty Commander, Miss Meara," Dorian said with a smile. Seraphina took up her spot behind Dorian's legs and tried to make herself as unobtrusive as possible. 

"Ser Pavus!" Meara exclaimed as if she hadn't been watching Dorian's entrance into the garden in rapt attention. "You're going to teach me how to make ice flowers, right?"

" _That's_ right. How fortunate you remembered. Shall we move to the gazebo then?" Dorian asked. Meara nodded excitedly and led the way to the gazebo. "Good afternoon, Commander."

"Afternoon, Ser Pavus."

"Oh, none of that. I can't get your daughter to call me Dorian but I won't have the Commander of the Inquisition calling me 'Ser Pavus.'"

"Dorian, then," Cullen said as they stepped into the gazebo. "Meara has been off the walls all morning."

"As well she should be," Dorian replied with a smile in Meara's direction. "I don't willingly spend time with many Fereldans, but you're quite the exception, Miss Meara. Now, I believe you wanted to learn ice flowers."

Meara nodded excitedly and sat on the floor of the gazebo, Dorian followed suit and sat across from her, setting his staff to the side. Cullen stood back against the archway of the gazebo and surprisingly, Seraphina did as well. 

"Can you make a ball of ice, Miss Meara?" Dorian asked. 

Cullen watched as Dorian patiently walked Meara through the steps, repeating his instructions again and again without getting frustrated. Meara could make a ball of ice, it seemed, but she had trouble getting its shape just right. This meant Dorian spent at least a half an hour simply teaching Meara the foundations of how to shape ice, let alone shape it into a flower. His daughter, on the other hand, grew frustrated with every failed attempt at a ball of ice. 

"I can't do it," Meara sniffled as she dropped her ball of ice that looked rather more like an egg. 

"Of course not! Not at first, at least," Dorian said as he moved Meara's hands into position once more. "Minrathous was not built in a day, after all. Tell me, what's your favorite spell?"

"Fire," Cullen answered for her with a withering stare at his daughter. "She likes to light her hand on fire." It didn't harm her, but it's also how she came into her magic and the memory of Meara calmly looking at her hand wreathed in flames would forever be the image that made Cullen's hair start to prematurely gray. 

"A personal favorite of mine as well," Dorian answered as he twirled his hand in front of Meara's face. The Tevinter's hand was wreathed in flames, then frost, then lightning before settling on something that crackled in purple. "Can you get the flames up your arm?" Meara nodded sadly but watched the mage in front of her nonetheless. "And you had to learn how to not burn your clothes, yes? I can't imagine your dear father would like it if you burnt every shirt and dress you own."

"No," Meara said with a timid smile. 

"Exactly. You had to learn how to do one thing before you can do the other. And I can't imagine you've a better teacher than me, so come now. Ball of ice."

Meara wasn't completely happy, there weren't many things she tried magically that she couldn't do first try, but she went through making an ice ball again and again and again. Perhaps Cullen should have hired a mage to teach Meara some of the more specific spells. Maker knows there were enough mages running about Skyhold, there were surely some he could have approached. But Meara was obstinate and stubborn and wanted to discover magic all on her own. 

And admittedly, Cullen hadn't the faintest idea of how to go about getting her a tutor. 

"Do you not want to learn how to do this, Seraphina?" Cullen asked the small elven child who watched Dorian and Meara in keen and silent interest. 

Seraphina looked up at Cullen, her eyes saddened and her shoulders physically slumped as she tried to make herself smaller and merge with the stone wall at her back. "I don't have magic," she said softly. 

_Oh,_ Cullen thought. Dorian shifted his attention to Cullen and Seraphina and shot Cullen a glare that promised a large amount of pain were he to make Seraphina sad. His position as Commander be damned, Cullen would be maimed come morning if he didn't tread carefully. "I don't have magic either," Cullen said to Seraphina. He had assumed Seraphina must be related to the Tevinter and Dorian was not a weak mage by what the reports from the field had said. If Dorian had that amount of magic, it's likely it would be passed on. Despite Cullen having no magic in his bloodline, Surana had passed her magic onto their daughter. 

"You hunted mages," Seraphina said, her voice still soft despite the accusatory edge she held to it. 

"I did," Cullen admitted. "But now I work with them to stop the bad people."

"And you don't hunt mages anymore?"

"I don't."

"Do you want to?"

 _Maker's breath._

"Seraphina," Dorian called sharply. "Do go easy on the poor Commander."

"Oh," Seraphina said, the sound more a breath of air than anything intelligible and Seraphina shrinks into herself further. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you, Ser Commander."

Cullen couldn't see Seraphina's face but he could hear the tears that she must have been fighting back in her voice. He would be responsible for a lot of things, but he would not be responsible for the tears of a young elven girl. Or any child, for that matter. "I don't want to hunt mages," Cullen said. "I want to hunt bad people."

"Like Corypheus and the Venatori?" Seraphina may have been young, but she could pronounce both those names better than Sera could. 

"Like them, and anyone who works for them. But not good mages." There was a time in Cullen's life where he didn't differentiate between good mages and bad mages, but that wasn't a story to delve into at that moment. 

"So you're not going to hunt Papa?" Seraphina asked, her voice getting stronger as she straightened herself. 

"Is he a bad mage?"

"Oh, I can be, Commander," Dorian said as he repositioned Meara's hands. "If you ask the right people."

Cullen rolled his eyes at the Tevinter's tone. It was the same lurid tone that Isabela had adopted in Kirkwall whenever she wanted anything. 

But then Seraphina _was_ Dorian's daughter. But how did she not inherit his magic? Perhaps she was simply a late bloomer. Mages came into their magic anywhere from five to fifteen years of age. She may eventually follow in her father's footsteps. It was far more likely than not. 

Seraphina huffed and glared at Dorian as best she could. "Papa is not a bad mage."

"Then I won't hunt him," Cullen assured Seraphina. 

The elven--half-elven?--girl smiled up at him and peeled herself off the wall, stepping closer to the Commander. Cullen wasn't sure, but he had the distinct feeling that he'd just passed some sort of test.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!! The next update will not take as long, we're about a month in between updates for all my chaptered fics, so maybe a month-ish?
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are my absolute life blood! I write faster with them and comments make my days bright :D You can find me on [tumblr](the-lady-magician.tumblr.com) where I take all the prompts and reblog Dragon Age all day long! I also have a new side blog for my lovely Cullrian artists and authors called [Cullrian Prompts](cullrianprompts.tumblr.com) where we take all your Cullrian prompts! We post all of the artwork and fanfiction on the last Saturday of every month, so come check us out :)

**Author's Note:**

> Syzygy means a perfect alignment of celestial bodies. 
> 
> As always, thank you so much for reading and kudos and comments help me write faster! You can find me on [ tumblr](http://www.the-lady-magician.tumblr.com) where I take prompts like this one and reblog all the Dragon Age things! I take and post drabbles on there for all sorts of Dragon Age, too.


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